April 17, 2010 - Thursday, April 22, 2010 is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. We wonder if Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will take this occasion to sign the bill that would ban smoking on state-run beaches and parks.

The California Senate on Thursday, April 15th voted 21-13 to send Governor Schwarzenegger a bill that would ban smoking on state-run beaches and parks. The bill (Senate bill 4) is believed to be the nation's most far-reaching smoking ban in state parks. It aims to cut down on litter, secondhand smoke and forest fires at California's 278 parks and 64 beaches by imposing a $100 fine on people who violate the ban, according to its author, Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach.

Back on March 22, 2010 the state Assembly voted 42-27 in favor of the ban. Anti-smoking groups say the bill would make California the first state to ban smoking throughout its entire park system if it is signed into law. The legislation faces one more vote in the Senate before it can be sent to health-conscious Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has not indicated whether he will sign it. (California - State Assembly approves smoking ban at state parks and beaches..) Jeff Macedo, a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, says the governor has not yet taken a position on it.The bill has encountered stiff opposition, including from the state Department of Parks and Recreation, which contends the rules will be difficult to enforce. Oropeza's measure exempts state park campsites and Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, an off-road vehicle area, from the ban.

The passage of the law and then making people aware the law exists only will help to reduce litter at beaches and parks throughout the state.

Supporters say the measure is needed to keep state parks and beaches clean and fire-safe and to eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke. Opponents, including tobacco companies, have noted that many cities have already enacted ordinances to ban smoking on beaches.

April 16, 2010 - This was announced by the Spanish health minister, Trinidad Jimenez, on Thursday, April 15th in an interview with state-owned TV station TVE-1.The Health Ministry spokeswoman said, "The law will be sent to Congress, there could be a debate and then a period of adaptation for the law." Last year, Jimenez said Spain was "mature enough" for a full smoking ban.

In 2006, Spain - one of Western Europe’s last bastions for those who love to light up - banned smoking in offices, public buildings and on public transport. It allowed bars and restaurants less than 100 sq meters in size - which make up about 80% of all such establishments - to make their own decision on whether to ban smoking, while larger venues were forced to have a separate designated smoking area. Few owners enforce the law or have installed nonsmoking sections. But unlike countries such as Ireland and France, prohibition has never really been taken seriously. (First effects of anti-smoking laws in Spain, News from Spain, Sunday, January 8, 2006)In Spain, Imperial Tobacco Group PLC's (IMT.LN) Fortuna and Ducados brands are popular, while Phillip Morris International Inc.'s (PM) Marlboro and L&M brands are also big sellers. Both companies are Spain's biggest players in the tobacco market and are likely to be the most affected by any drop in consumption.

April 16, 2010 - Teenage daughters of Western Australians (WA) mothers who smoked during pregnancy have been found to have ovaries 10 per cent smaller and a uterus 20 per cent smaller in groundbreaking Raine Study research looking for links between cigarettes and infertility.

PAPER: Prenatal Determinants of Uterine Volume and Ovarian Reserve in AdolescenceRoger Hart, Deborah M. Sloboda, Dorota A. Doherty, Robert J. Norman, Helen C. Atkinson, John P. Newnham, Jan E. Dickinson and Martha Hickey The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 94, No. 12 4931-4937, ABSTRACT..Ultrasound imaging was used to compare the reproductive systems of 200 16-year-old girls followed since before birth, with investigations in the past three years done by the University of WA's School of Women's and Infants' Health. The researchers said the results indicated that maternal smoking, but not variations in foetal growth, in particular may lead to a significant reduction in uterine volume.

UWA reproductive medicine professor Roger Hart said: "The next follow-up is, what exactly does that mean? Well basically, nobody has ever studied that before, so we do not know. "But ask me in 10 to 20 years, when these girls are trying to get pregnant and we might find some correlation." Smaller uterine size is known to be associated with an increased risk of miscarriage and failed implantation.

The findings of this first prospective study to measure the relationship between foetal (fetal) growth, maternal tobacco smoking in pregnancy, uterine and ovarian volume and ovarian reserve in adolescents.

The WA researchers said the study had not only highlighted the environment, particularly maternal smoking, had a potentially negative effect on reproductive health in the next generation, it also had offered opportunities to understand the mechanisms of uterine and ovarian development and for early intervention to improve reproductive health.

April 16, 2010 - Syria's long-awaited smoking ban goes into effect on Wednesday, April 21 with a six-month grace period drawing to a close. President Bashar Al Assad had officially approved the new rules back in October 2009. The smoking ban builds upon an earlier decree passed under Syria's late president Hafez Al Assad in the 1990s, which had banned the advertising of any tobacco-related products in Syria.

Health Minister Rida Said defended the ban saying it "protects the rights of non-smokers, many of whom are children, and is an important step towards reduction of smoking-related illness".Experts believe the ban on smoking in public places will improve people's health and ultimately reduce national health service costs. Considered far-reaching, it bans smoking in restaurants, airports and all other public places; offenders caught breaking the law will be fined the equivalent of about US$45. According to the Syrian Centre for Tobacco Studies (SCTS), 59 percent of adult males and 23 percent of adult females in Syria smoke. "It is an epidemic," said Fouad Mohammad Fouad, SCTS coordination officer.

Today (April 16, 2010) activists of a civic movement protesting the ruling majority’s plans to water down the much expected ban to smoke in public places have been thrown out of the Bulgarian Parliament. Members of the Civic initiative “Bulgaria without Smoke” were raising their voices in protest inside the Parliament building as the MPs were debating the much disputed legislation, which is supposed to introduce a more permeating smoking ban, doctoronline.bg reported. (Bulgarian NGO Thrown Out of Parliament over Smoking Law Protest, Novinite.com, 4/16/2010)

The draft legislation has surprisingly managed to fuse the ruling center-right ruling party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) with the main opposition Socialist Party. The ad hoc coalition claims that the proposed relaxation of a ban on smoking in all public places would avoid hurting the tourist industry during tough economic times.

Under the proposed changes the owners of restaurants, clubs and coffee shops with an area less than 100 square meters, should decide if smoking would be allowed, while for larger establishments there must be a well-isolated smoking space.

The full ban is to remain effective for all other public spaces. Similar measures were imposed as part of a partial smoking ban in 2005 but have been widely ignored.

A poll conducted by the health portal DoctorOnline shows the majority of all Bulgarians - 78% are against the delay of the smoking ban in public spaces. The poll was conducted over the amendments in the Health Act proposed at the end of February by the ruling GERB party. The poll was conducted among 1 186 users of the site.

58% of the respondents are firmly against the delay, which they say is unfair to non-smokers while another 20% believe the move will lead to the increase of cases of lung and other cancers. The above opinion is shared by the majority in a number of EU countries, recent debates show, while research conducted by the World Health Organization reveals passive smokers are more in danger of lung diseases than the active ones.Only 11% of the Bulgarian respondents support the GERB proposal and say the delay will help the business. Another 11% state they are firmly against the ban because they want to continue to be able to smoke at bars, restaurants and coffee shops.

Recently several NGOs (non-government agencies) and citizens joined their effort against the GERB proposal in the so-called Coalition for Life without Cigarette Smoke. The Coalition is challenging Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, to race with them in a run for health on Saturday, April 10 at the Ariana Lake in the central Sofia park “Borisova Gradina.” Borisov is known to be an avid cigar smoker.

Bulgarians, along with Greeks, are the heaviest smokers in the European Union (EU). Current legislation in Bulgaria bans smoking in public buildings like state institutions, shops, schools and hospitals. It is still legal to smoke in cafes and restaurants but their owners are required to clearly detach smoking from non-smoking areas.

April 18, 2010 - Ghana is to host the Second Working Group meeting on World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Accra, the capital, from April 21-23. This second meeting of the working group is also the first time a working group meeting is being held in Africa.

A statement issued in Accra on Friday by the Ministry of Health (MOH) said Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor would address the opening session. It said the meeting would come up with policy options and recommendations for countries to follow as they seek alternative livelihoods for tobacco growers and traders.

"Most producers of tobacco growing and manufacturers are in developing countries and those with economies in transition and they suffer the double burden of the negative effects of tobacco production and consumption", it said.

African countries with such heavy burden of growing and production include Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Nigeria. The statement said these countries needed support to be able to offer their farmers and producers alternative livelihood.The meeting would be attended by 40 delegates from 18-member countries of the working group including Ghana, the Head of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Secretariat, representatives of WHO and civil society organisations. The meeting attended by about 25 health journalists discussed, identified and suggested how the commitment made could be effectively and efficiently achieved.

As a prelude to the meeting a media workshop has been organised in Accra to discuss progress made by Ghana with regard to the implementation of the WHO conventions on tobacco control.

April 16, 2010 - CHICAGO -- Convenience store in-store sales grew 4.9% in 2009, one of the lone bright spots in a battered U.S. economy that saw overall retail sales drop 7.0%, according to figures released today by NACS (National Association of Convenience Stores).

The industry numbers were announced in Chicago at the annual NACS State of the Industry Summit, a two-day conference that reviews and analyzes the industry’s key economic indicators.

While in-store sales rose to $182.4 billion, the sharp decline in gas prices from a record $4.11 per gallon in July 2008 to under $2 per gallon by the beginning of 2009 led to a dramatic drop in motor fuels revenues for the industry that sells an estimated 80% of the fuels purchased in the United States. The average price for a gallon of gas dropped 28.5% to $2.28 in 2009, and pulled down motor fuels revenues 26.9% to $328.7 billion. Still, motor fuels sales continue to dominate industry revenues, accounting for 68.4% of all sales dollars.

While motor fuels revenues plummeted because of the lower price per gallon, total gallons sold rose 1.3%. Motor fuels gross margins for 2009 were slim—13.8 cents per gallon—and the effect of these tight margins can be seen in motor fuels’ contribution to overall gross margin dollars. Only 27.3% of the industry’s profit dollars came from motor fuels sales, compared to 72.7% of profits from in-store sales.

Overall, convenience store sales in 2009 were $511.1 billion, accounting for 3.5% of the total U.S. Gross Domestic Product—one of every 28 dollars spent in 2009. Industry profits fell 7.6% to $4.8 billion, but were still the fourth largest in the industry’s history. The importance of foodservice—a category that includes food prepared on site, commissary items and hot, cold and frozen dispensed beverages – continues to grow, with the category now contributing 20.2% of overall industry profits.

“Our strong industry numbers show that our value proposition of convenience continues to resonate with consumers,” said NACS vice chairman of research Greg Parker, president and CEO of The Parker Cos., Savannah, Ga. “It is astounding that we have grown in-store sales during the worst economic downturn in more than half a century and it shows that our passionate focus on the customer may make us recession resistant.”

Credit card fees continue to be the industry’s top pain point and second largest expense item—behind only labor costs. While overall credit card fees dropped 11.9% to $7.4 billion, the drop was significantly less than what would be expected with the drop in the industry’s revenue dollars. As a percentage of overall sales, credit card actually fees increased, from 1.35 to 1.45% of total industry sales dollars, factoring in all forms of payment, including cash and check. Total credit card fees also surpassed overall convenience store industry profits for the fourth straight year.

The sour employment outlook was also reflected in the convenience store industry’s employment numbers. Employment dropped 8.7% to 1.58 million. Indicative of the tight employment market, turnover dropped to record low levels in 2009. Manager turnover dropped from 29.0 to 21.8% and non-manager turnover dropped from 109.0 to 82.4%.

Cigarettes once again led in-store sales, and increased share to 35.8% of in-store sales. The increase in sales dollars was driven by the $1 per pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes that took effect in April 2009, as well as additional state tax increases. Foodservice showed strong growth, rising to first in terms of in-store margin dollars and second in in-store revenue dollars.

The industry’s 2009 metrics are based on the NACS State of the Industry survey powered by its wholly owned subsidiary CSX, the industry’s largest purpose-designed business development tool, and based on data from 197 firms representing more than 23,000 stores. Complete data tables and analysis will be released in June in the NACS State of the Industry Report of 2009 Data.

Founded in 1961 as the National Association of Convenience Stores, NACS is the international association for convenience and petroleum retailing, representing more than 2,100 retail and 1,500 supplier member companies. The U.S. convenience store industry, with nearly 145,000 stores across the country, posted $511 billion in total sales in 2009, with $328 billion in motor fuels sales.

Keep up with the NACS 2010 State of the Industry Summit in real time by following us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CSPInfoGroup.

April 16, 2010 - California officials want money from the nation's small tobacco companies that have avoided paying into an escrow account for the states.

In the mid-1990s, all 50 states and two U.S. territories sued the country's major cigarette manufacturers to recover Medicaid costs related to cigarette smoking. They also sought to impose restrictions on the makers' sales and ad practices. The lawsuits were settled in 1998. As part of the Master Settlement Agreement, manufacturers were banned from targeting youth in their advertising and were ordered to make payments to the states for all future cigarette sales. The states, in exchange, agreed not to file future claims.

The agreement allowed manufacturers who were not parties to the lawsuit to join the master agreement within 90 days, making them exempt from having to make future payments with certain restrictions.

Unlike the Participating Manufacturers to the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), Non-Participating Manufacturers (NPMs) have not been released from State claims. Some small tobacco companies were not a party to the original lawsuit or the subsequent agreement, and opted not to participate in the master agreement. But the master agreement allows states - including California - to enact statutes forcing such non-participating manufacturers to place money into escrow each year to settle future judgments based on the number of cigarettes sold in that state.

The California Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Jerry Brown, is sponsoring legislation this session (California State Legislature, 2009–2010 session) that would allow the attorney general's office to pursue tobacco companies that are not paying the state for treating smoking-related illnesses.The legislation, outlined in Assembly Bill 2496, would amend the California Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003 to allow the attorney general to pursue tobacco companies that ship their products into the state without being licensed to do so.

Introduced by state Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, the Tobacco Damages Recovery Act is aimed at closing loopholes in the Master Settlement Agreement that major tobacco companies signed in 1998.

But Nava said many smaller tobacco companies have avoided paying California and other states. "My legislation will make smaller tobacco companies pay their fair share and not allow them to continue to break the law," said Nava, a candidate for attorney general. "We will hold them accountable for all sales of cigarettes in California and the corresponding health care costs caused by smoking which are passed on to all of us."

Assembly Bill 2496 on Monday, April 12th passed the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee with bipartisan support. The bill will next be heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on April 20.

Even with enforcement limitations County Executive believes smoking ban is going to be 95-98 percent self enforced by the businesses and patrons. - Which Would Be Excellent..

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson retreated from a legal battle over a smoking ban this afternoon. Early this morning, April 15th he said he was suing the state over the smoking ban in restaurants and bars, that was set to take effect May 1, 2010. But six hours later, after receiving about 100 phone calls and e-mails opposing his position, he reversed himself and said he was withdrawing the lawsuit filed with the Michigan Court of Appeals. “If the public doesn’t want me to challenge this unfunded mandate, I’m going to withdraw the lawsuit,” he said. “If I don’t have public support for what I’m doing, I’m going to reverse myself.”

Patterson supports the ban, but not the possibility that his health department will have to enforce the smoke free workplace law. Patterson: “I have 26 sanitarians stretched thin already. They can’t take on any more responsibilities."While the county is going to try and figure out some way to comply with the law, Patterson predicted it would be a disaster. “It’s destined to fail. I think it’s going to 95-98% self enforced by the businesses and patrons,” he said. “If we get 10,000 calls, there are going to be a lot of unanswered complaints.”

A spokeswoman for Gov. Jennifer Granholm said shortly after noon that the governor wants to see the smoking ban enforced. “We support the smoking ban,” said spokeswoman Liz Boyd.

Boyd said the state Department of Community Health had provided some financial assistance to counties in preparation for the May 1 implementation of the law. But she declined to comment on whether the requirements imposed on county health departments overall violated the Headlee amendment, as Patterson alleged.

That seems to be a blow to the likes of Japan Tobacco and British American Tobacco, which were lobbying to expand their small presence in the growing and increasingly affluent market. But the protectionist move should hardly come as a surprise, especially given that ITC, which has nearly 80% of the cigarette market, is 34%-government owned through state-run insurance companies. And it should give companies time to think if they really are missing out.Despite rapid growth in disposable income and massive migration of people from rural to urban areas, cigarettes are the choice of only a slim segment of Indian tobacco users. Many prefer chewing tobacco. Among those who smoke, hand-rolled leaf tobacco is favored; a mere 15% smoke cigarettes.

And profit margins are tight, in part because of competition from contraband cigarettes smuggled across the borders and illegally made local smokes. Though there are no specific estimates of how many such smokes circulate in the market, ITC says they are its biggest challenge.

On top of that, New Delhi, particularly the Health Ministry, is increasingly vocal about curbing smoking. Even before the formal investment ban, the government had rejected proposals by foreign players to increase their presence in India. Existing rules use licenses to cap the number of cigarettes a company can produce in a year, and there are loud calls for higher tax rates to reduce tobacco use. The country's tobacco tax already represents 69% of the retail price of a cigarette -- among the highest percentages in the region, according to the Tobacco Institute of India, a trade group.

And cigarette makers bear a disproportionate share of the tobacco tax. Though cigarettes represent only about 40% of India's $12 billion tobacco market, they generated 80% of the revenue collected from the tobacco industry in 2007-08. The non-cigarette industry is fragmented, consisting of many small-scale players.

Certainly, global companies may have hoped a market like India -- where cigarette consumption is growing around 5% a year, according to Datamonitor -- could offer growth potential they lack at home. Japan Tobacco is hunting for new markets as its domestic market shrinks due to a declining population and fewer people lighting up.

But when the smoke clears, foreign firms may see India's protected market has its own shortcomings.

Kanagawa's tobacco control unit says the only place you can smoke in this government building is outside, with the pigeons; amid the rooftop vents of the building.

More than 80 percent of men smoked right after the war, says Horie Nobuo. Less than 40 percent smoke nowadays. This is a big change.

But Japan is far behind other developed nations, says non-smoking advocate Koreyoshi Takahashi. Takahashi pays the price for Japan's decades long smoking culture. He can walk up a few stairs, but beyond that, what remains of his lungs cannot take much more. Doctors removed two thirds of his right lung, lost to lung cancer, caused by two decades of a two to three pack a day smoking habit. Everyone smoked he says, no one thought the government would sell anything bad for your health. But it was, and still is, Japan tobacco is majority-owned by the government.

Tobacco is still on the market, he says, containing tons of cancerous material. And it's sold by the government. “It's unbelievable.”Kazuhito Yamashita is the vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at Japan tobacco, also known as JT. It's a groundless opinion that the government's ownership of JT shares is delaying anti-smoking public policy, he says, adding that JT has been pushing for 100 percent privatization. He points out the non-smoking trend in Japan is happening and the company is adjusting to the new culture.

Smokers are finding fewer and fewer places to light up. Outside one train station, smokers are confined to "smoking" pens, paid in part by Japan tobacco. I don't like this, says Shinji Motegi, who says this is what animals at the zoo must feel like. “It makes me feel like a criminal.”

Responding to that customer complaint that there are fewer and fewer places to smoke, Japan tobacco has developed a smokeless cigarette, called "zero-style."Instead of lighting up, you inhale a plastic pipe, the tobacco is inside in replaceable cartridges. It's not a way to hook consumers on another type of tobacco, stresses Yamashita.

This is a tobacco product, therefore there's a risk with it. It's our job to provide options for the customers who understand that risk and still would like to smoke.

Takahashi is fighting against the use of any tobacco products, calling it all poison. For his generation, smoking was a rite of passage into adulthood. Takahashi sees the non smoking laws as an awakening for Japan. That he hopes will mean a longer life for the next generation.

April 15, 2010 - On Tuesday, April 13th the South Carolina senators didn't get around to debating final approval on raising South Carolina's lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax by 50 cents a pack. Lawmakers instead spent Tuesday's session in a procedural argument about abortion legislation.

On Wednesday, April 14th South Carolina senators on approved raising the nation's lowest cigarette tax by 50 cents a pack. South Carolina's current cigarette tax of 7 cents a pack hasn't increased since 1977, when a pack cost 49 cents.

By a 32-12 vote, the Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to raising the tax to generate about $130 million for Medicaid programs. They'll set aside $5 million each for cancer research at the Medical University of South Carolina and programs to reduce smoking.

The Senate legislation would put the Medicaid share of the money into a trust fund and will be used in the 2012 budget year to head off deep spending cuts in health care programs for the state's elderly, disabled and poor after temporary federal help for those programs disappears.

When the cigarette tax cash is matched by federal money, it will generate about $500 million, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence. That "will plug holes - not to start new programs; not to expand programs - simply try to provide what we're doing now," Leatherman said.State Sen. Kevin Bryant, a Republican pharmacist from Anderson, argued the money should be used on a tax decrease elsewhere and not on money-losing government health care programs. "If we don't reform the system, we're going to continue to pour money down this drain and we're never fully going to have a good Medicaid system in this state until we reform the system," Bright said.

The bill now is bound for the House, which can go along with the Senate's plan or amend the bill and send it back to the Senate. House budget writers approved a cigarette tax increase of 30 cents a pack last month. But Senate rules won't allow that tax increase to be included in the spending plan they'll take up in a couple of weeks.

Legislators expect the bill will end up in a conference committee for differences to be worked out.

Republican Gov. Mark Sanford has promised to veto a cigarette tax increase if the money isn't used to reduce taxes in other areas.

Senators Wednesday scrambling to make it more likely the tax increase would survive a veto threat. They stripped out plans to use part of the tax increase to pay for agriculture product marketing and rural projects. Instead those initiatives would be paid for with money from the state's settlement with tobacco companies.

"The whole thing is an effort to get the votes needed to override a veto," said Senate Minority Leader John Land. The Manning Democrat two weeks ago rallied votes for those initiatives when the bill won second reading with a 26-16 vote. If Senate support holds, the margin the bill passed with Wednesday is sufficient to override Sanford.

April 15, 2010 - Cigarette smuggling (illegal, illicit, black market, contraband) cost the Government 556 million euro (755 million USD) in lost taxes and duty last year (2009), it has been revealed.

Retailers also wrote off 692 million euro (939.4 million USD) in lost sales due to the lucrative illegal trade, although nine shops are being investigated by customs officers for selling counterfeit brands.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said he did not increase excise on cigarettes in the December budget fearing the already high price - around 8.45 euro for a pack of 20 - could contribute further to the smuggling problem. "The tobacco industry itself has a crucial contribution to make in dealing with the threats posed by smuggling. I did not increase the excise duty on tobacco products in my December Budget as I believe the high price is contributing to increased cigarette smuggling.""Tobacco smuggling is a serious problem for Ireland. It deprives the state of the revenues from the sale of legitimate products, and is damaging to both the tobacco industry and the retail trade," the minister said.

JTI said the most common platforms for selling illegal cigarettes were unlicensed street markets and door-to-door sales, with even bread vans and a postman reported to be engaged in the trade in 2009. But the study reveals an upsurge in the number of legitimate shops trading in counterfeit goods, with nine retailers being investigated by customs last year.

JTI said it is taking a zero tolerance approach to such behaviour and took the "unprecedented" decision to cease trading with a shop in the midlands believed to be selling counterfeit Benson & Hedges Gold Kingsize. Cease and desist letters were also sent to three other shops thought to be dabbling in the trade.

JTI warned inadequate penalties, low fines, and unregulated street markets continued to make the illicit trade of tobacco a common choice for criminals in Ireland. It said there was a growing link between the trade and hard-core criminality. (Ireland - modest penalty for cigarette smuggling..)

Rick Bender former baseball player with part of mouth removed - Philip Morris/R.J. Reynolds safer than cigarettes but where's the tongue??April 15, 2010 - Executives from Major League Baseball and the players' association joined U.S. public-health officials to testify before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday, April 14th on the prevalence of smokeless tobacco and whether its use by professional athletes influences children.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said Major League Baseball and the players' union should "take action to end the use of smokeless tobacco by big-league players."

"Like many generations of Major League Baseball players, I started using spit tobacco because I saw other players doing it, and I thought it was part of being a major-league player," said Joe Garagiola, a television announcer and former player. "This is a dangerous, deadly habit." (The National Spit Tobacco Education Program..)

Tobacco of all kinds is banned in minor-league baseball, a policy Garagiola urged major-league players to adopt. While major-league players aren't allowed to smoke cigarettes in uniform in view of spectators, chewing tobacco is different, said David Prouty, chief labor counsel for the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Prouty said. "Baseball players should not be prohibited from using substances that are perfectly legal and available to the general public." Tobacco companies led by Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds argue they should be allowed to market smokeless products as a safer alternative to cigarettes. "Some adults who would otherwise continue smoking may be willing to move to a smokeless-tobacco alternative to cigarettes," said James Dillard, a senior vice president at Altria Group, which owns Philip Morris. "Smokeless-tobacco products are substantially lower on the risk continuum than cigarettes."

Health officials say they worry chewing tobacco will have the opposite effect: that it may act as a gateway to cigarettes, and that children could become addicted to tobacco by emulating its use by baseball players.

Nine of every 10 people who die from mouth and throat cancers used tobacco, according to the American Dental Association (ADA). Tobacco products also are linked to higher rates of gum disease, one of the leading causes of adult tooth loss, the ADA said in an October letter to the FDA.

Terry Pechacek of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Deborah Winn of the National Cancer Institute testified about the links between smokeless tobacco and cancer, and the addictiveness of smokeless tobacco. Pechacek said smokeless tobacco can cause oral cancer and pancreatic cancer, and has been linked to fatal heart attacks.

Banning use would require negotiations with the players union, said Robert Manfred, an executive vice president for Major League Baseball.

April 14, 2010 - The Government is considering a hike in tobacco tax to fund sweeteners offered the states by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as he tries to win their endorsement for his $18 billion health reform package.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon is pushing for Cabinet endorsement of a recommendation from the National Preventative Health Taskforce to lift the price of a 30-pack of cigarettes from $13.50 to $20.

It would be the first rise in the tax rate on tobacco in more than a decade and would bring Australia into line with the rest of the world. Australia has the third lowest tobacco tax rate in the developed world at 68 percent. Most other countries charge tax rates of between 75 and 80 percent.

Quit Victoria executive director Fiona Sharkie welcomed the proposal, saying it was number one on the body's budget wish. "We are very happy, increasing the price on cigarettes is the single best way to bring smoking rates down," she said. A tobacco tax hike could raise two-thirds of the $3 billion Prime Minister Kevin Rudd needs to pay for the health and hospital sweeteners he has offered the states, as he tries to win their endorsement of his health reforms. The government needs to find an extra $3 billion to meet its promises on extra funding for elective surgery, emergency departments and aged care during the next four years. It will need to find a further $15 billion to fund the reforms between 2015-20.But up to 3 million smokers would be hit if the price of a pack of 30 cigarettes rose from around $13.50 to $20 per pack over a three-year period under the preventative health taskforce model. The taskforce reckons such a hefty hike would reduce the number of smokers by a million within a decade. This could help the Government save some of the $31 billion that smoking costs the community each year.

VicHealth CEO Todd Harper said pricing was the most important way to reduce smoking. "I think it's an essential strategy to protect the long-term health of Australians," he said. "More than half of all long-term smokers will die because of their smoking." Young people and low income earners would be most affected by any price hike, he said. He also called for a portion of the extra revenue to be used for health promotion programs supporting and encouraging people to quit and stop a new generation of smokers in its tracks. It was also important to focus on making cigarette packaging less attractive, ramping up media advertising of quit programs, and extending the availability of quitting services, he said.

A Newspoll found 88 percent of Australians backed such a tax rise provided the money raised was spent on health.

The premiers will gather for the Council of Australian Governments meeting in Canberra (capital of the nation of Australia in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT)) on Monday, April 19th.

April 14, 2010 - Cigarette-makers are cutting back on the amount of leaf they'll buy this year, early reports from the latest annual round of grower contract negotiations show.

Though the companies, including Altria Group Inc., won't give details, they confirm that they will buy less because of a continuing slide in cigarette sales. "It's just what's happening with the market," said R. Hart Hudson, a grower and warehouseman in South Hill. Some growers and grower associations estimate the drop in sales of flue-cured leaf -- the main ingredient in cigarettes -- will be about 10 percent this year.

"It's really all over. Some growers are being dropped completely. Others aren't getting any cutbacks at all. There are numerous cases of growers being cut 20 percent," said D. Stanley Duffer, marketing specialist with the state agriculture department.

Last year, when the federal government boosted excise taxes by 62 cents a pack, cigarette sales tumbled by 8 percent, or twice as much as they had been through the decade, a review of federal tax data showed. That tax increase came faster and sooner than cigarette-makers expected, and left them with higher inventories of unused leaf than usual, Duffer said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that growers cut back planting flue-cured tobacco this year by about 7 percent. In Southside Virginia, the cutback is more than 9 percent, to 16,000 acres, the USDA said. "I think contracted pounds are down more than 7 percent," said Blake Brown, a North Carolina State University agricultural economist specializing in tobacco.

"Farmers will plant some acreage above what they contracted to ensure they meet their contract obligations even if the weather is not favorable."

Duffer thinks more flue-cured growers than usual may be planting on speculation -- without a contract, on the hope they'll find some kind of buyer in the end.

Plantings of burley tobacco, the stronger-tasting, smaller-leaf variety that gives American-style cigarettes much of their sharper flavor, should drop by about 4 percent, the USDA data show. But Virginia, though one of the smallest producers of this variety, will see a 5 percent increase.

In some cases, cigarette-makers aren't renewing contracts, particularly in Georgia, hard hit by disease in recent years, said Kirk Wayne, president of Tobacco Associates, a growers' group. That state will see a 29 percent drop in flue-cured tobacco acreage this year, USDA reports.

He said the decline is linked to the drop in cigarette sales, adding that he's seen no sign U.S. manufacturers are shifting to buy more imported leaf.

"The weaker dollar has helped exports and held down imports, but declining demand in other developed country markets like the European Union (EU) has more than offset the positive effect of the dollar," said Brown, at N.C. State

"Contracted amounts in Brazil, the chief competitor of U.S. flue-cured, are also down."